The influence of architectural configuration on the pedestrian network in Büyük Beşiktaş market

A study of trading can help us understand a wider range of organizations and building types. Many shopping centers have been built in Istanbul over the past twenty years. Although these privately owned places serve as social spaces and provide an area for many public activities, their size and close proximity separate them from the urban environment and choke off daily urban street life. Buyuk Besiktas Market, which is selected as the subject of the case study has a specific architectural form. Multiple entrances and a conductive interface converts the building and especially the ground floor into a common area and urban domain that hosts concerts, urban activities and special meetings. The study seeks to understand how does the architectural form and syntactic pattern of the outer layer play a role in changing the pedestrian network inside the building and how do basic architectural elements such as inner courtyards and open spaces affect pedestrian flow and preferences? The research procedure is based on two main steps. The first step comprises a gate count of the people passing through the gates and a density analysis. The second step is to analyze the architectural configuration using Syntax 2D program developed by scientists at the University of Michigan. The results of the study support the idea that particularly for multi-entrance buildings, the urban environment can be more dominant or at least effective in manipulating the natural movement in buildings. Independent from the structure of the building, the configuration which was set by urban dynamics is so dominant.